


final distance

by viewtifuldream



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Gen, Well - Freeform, i don’t know what to say, might be poorly written sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 01:52:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19713886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viewtifuldream/pseuds/viewtifuldream
Summary: diego and his great cousin, carlos.





	final distance

**Author's Note:**

> diego isn’t a made up character, he appears in the books and is carlos’ cousin. but i always wanted to do a diego and carlos fic. yes i made this bc of what happened.

final distance

♡

diego was fifteen; carlos was thirteen.

family wasn’t something diego never had a taste of. he didn’t know his mom, he was estranged from his dad, and he barely talked to any other relatives. there’s always a bitter sense to be without family, but he had his band mates and his other friends, right?

so when his cousin carlos knocks on his door at midnight, soaking wet in the pouring rain asking if he could come inside, he felt uneasy.

diego knew about carlos. he knew how weak the younger male was and how nerdy, quiet, and boring carlos was. that and he knew carlos’ middle name was oscar. in sweet terms, diego didn’t want to associate with such a polar opposite, but family is family, he guesses.

carlos is quiet and doesn’t say much, which diego doesn’t mind because it’s midnight and he’s not in the mood for awkward, filler conversation.

instead, he lights a cigarette, and the response he gets is carlos screaming and jumping away from him like he just turned into an ugly monster.

“what the hell is wrong with you?” he asks. when he gets up and turns the light on, his eyes are fixated on carlos.

the boy’s skin is as pale and white as his hair and his eyes are tinted pink - two things he didn’t notice when it was dark. but then he sees a scratch below carlos’s eye andblack and purple stains not on carlos’ shirt, but carlos’s arm.

“mate, you got to start standing up to those bullies.” he says, kneeling down towards carlos. “who’s beating up on you like this?”

carlos seems to forget how to speak for a second and diego reiterates his question more sternly.

“well who is it?”

“my mom.”

diego’s brown orbs harderned. it was almost as if he was glaring at carlos, but he wasn’t. just merely staring at his cousin as if his cousin was the only thing in the world. he looked at the bruises then at his cigarette in his hand and made the slow realization. when carlos sees the realization in diego’s eyes, he flings and clings himself on to the older male, sobbing and shaking violently.

diego’s first instinct would be to push the younger boy off him, after all carlos was merely a stranger of sorts.

but he doesn’t. he just asks, “how long has this been happening?”

“since i could talk.”

diego simply embraces carlos. and mentally vows to protect him.

♡

for a year, diego regularly checks up on carlos.

he becomes so skinny after such a long period of avoiding the traps in hell hall that he doesn’t even notice how lanky he’s becoming, but that doesn’t matter.

what matters is giving carlos food (that he stole, so what?) and unlocking the closet door so that the younger male wouldn’t be so confined.

over the year, diego begins to warm up to carlos. carlos starts helping him fix grammatical mistakes when writing songs, he helps diego with whatever bullshit “homework” dragon hall throws at them, and now diego isn’t so ashamed to talk to him at dragon hall. he doesn’t mind the “nerd” talk anymore and he accepts that for once he has a family member and that he’s not alone.

except he is alone.

“what the fuck do you mean you’re going to auradon?”

carlos looks at him with sad eyes, which makes diego even more angry.

“i’m so sorry, d. it’s a lifetime changing experience. and my mom is making me go an-“

“so you’re gonna do what the _bitch_ says again?” diego doesn’t exactly realize what he says, but all he can see is red.

“you’re right,” carlos says. “i need to stand up to her right now and say i’m not going.”

“no!” diego suddenly grabs carlos by the shoulders. “don’t do that. you should go. really. i just don’t want you to leave and be alone.”

“i’ll be there with mal, evie, and jay. i don’t know them that well, but i won’t be alone.”

diego doesn’t respond, he only looks down in defeat.

carlos places a comforting hand on diego’s shoulder. “besides, i’m fourteen. you don’t need to protect me anymore.”

diego looks at his cousin, who’s shooting him a warm smile. he hasn’t seen carlos smile like that in years. it’s almost like seeing fish fly, it seems unnatural. but it’s real. and what’s even more real is diego crying when he hugs his cousin for one last time.

“thank you so much for all you’ve done for me,” carlos says, sobs muffled into diego’s chest. “i’m so sorry.”

diego pulls away from carlos, looking at the explosion of freckles one last time.

“don’t be sorry. just promise me that you’ll be happy? you’ll be away from that evil woman, shit food, shit people, and you’ll live a good life there, right?” diego chokes in between sobs, a hard lump forming in his throat.

“yes, diego.” carlos nods.

“good. now get on, you’ll be late.”

carlos smiles at diego and diego returns the smile, and keeps smiling as he walks out the door, watching his cousin walk down the road slowly and slowly fading into nothing for his naked eye to see.

“don’t leave me, carlos.” diego whispers quietly to himself. “ _don’t leave._ ”

♡

diego looks around the limo, excitedly. anthony tremaine, jade, and yzla are there too, which isn’t a plus or negative to him. he didn’t care.

when the limo arrived in front of a very fancy looking building with a big marching band and balloons and gold shit plastered everywhere, he still didn’t care.

when him and the other three exit the limo and are greeted by a handsome, brown haired young king, he didn’t care.

the king clears his throat, gesturing individually to each of them. “i’ll have these four show you around the school. yzla, mal is your guide. anthony, evie is your guide. jade, jay is your guide. and diego... carlos is your guide.” that’s when diego cared.

diego made no time rushing towards the white hair, brown puppy eyes, and freckles, embracing the figure into a bear hug as if those were even a thing on the isle.

“diego!”

“carlos!”

they hugged for what seemed like an eternity, everyone including the marching band had left and it was just them alone in the front of auradon prep.

carlos let’s go. “i can’t believe you’re finally here.”

diego takes a moment to inspect carlos. “i can’t believe you’ve gotten so big. your hair is different and you got a peach fuzz, what the hell?”

carlos laughs, punching diego’s arm. “i’m so glad you’re here. i really am. we’ve waited 2 years.

diego slings am arm around his cousin, the pair began walking towards the building.

as carlos shows diego around the school, diego observes a lot. he observes how healthy carlos looks, how many friends he accumulated from all the “heys” he got, how carlos is involved with so many things, but what was most pleasant to diego was carlos’ smile. it was so big, so shiny, so natural and genuine. carlos’ eyes were no longer dull and full of fear. thry were bright and cheery. they had hope. ambition. passion. gratitude. love.

diego took a sigh of relief. his cousin fulfilled his promise.

carlos was happy, and he would continue to be so. forever and more.

**Author's Note:**

> i’m sorry if this isn’t very written well, i’m tired. rest easy, mister boyce. rest easy.


End file.
